Postal Service Planning Branch In Orlo Vista Area

March 28, 1986|By Valerie Anderson of The Sentinel Staff

To meet the needs for a mushrooming population, the U.S. Postal Service hopes to open a new postal branch in Orlo Vista by the middle of next year for the approximately 28,000 residents in the 32811 ZIP code area.

Construction bids are being sought for the new facility that is expected to cost almost $1 million. The deadline for submitting bids is Thursday and construction is expected to start the latter part of this year.

The new branch will be on nearly 7 acres east of Kirkman Road and south of Old Winter Garden Road. The site was purchased last September for $499,000.

The new facility will enable the postal service to better serve its customers in the mostly unincorporated community south of State Road 50, said John Whitener, manager of the Orlando postal stations and branches. Because the new branch will be considerably bigger and at a more central location, it will be more convenient for customers and the carriers will be able to deliver the mail earlier, he said.

The planned expansion is expected to accommodate growth in the 45-square- mile service area for at least the next two decades, said Guy Bennett, district facilities coordinator for the postal service. The area is bounded by Vineland Road to the east, Apopka-Vineland Road to the west, Conroy Road to the south and State Road 50 to the north.

Population in that area has been growing at 8 1/2 percent annually over the past three years and projections show it will have 37,000 residents in five years and in 10 years it will have 59,000 residents, he said. A major part of the growth will be along Hiawassee Road and in the massive Metro West housing development near Valencia Community College's west campus. That project will eventually have 4,000 homes and some residents are expected to move in this summer, he said.

The postal service has not decided what it will do with the post office at 5812 Old Winter Garden Road.

The new facility will be much larger than the present building, which only has 2,268 square feet of space. The new branch post office will have 15,627 square feet of floor space, officials said.

Those interested in submitting bids should send them to Jorge Rodriguez, general manager, Field Real Estate and Buildings Office, U.S. Postal Service, P.O. Box 22725, Tampa 33622-2725. Architect for the project is Davis & Associates, 1505 E. Colonial Drive, Suite 100, Orlando. The bids will be opened at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The new facility will improve working conditions by giving employees adequate space to do their jobs and it will more than double the number of post office boxes to approximately 1,500. It also will provide more parking space for customers, employees and postal service vehicles, Whitener said.

Forty workers are assigned to the Orlo Vista service area, which has 22 routes.

The postal service also had hoped to open a new post office in Gotha late last year but it hasn't made any progress on that project because no acceptable bids were submitted, Bennett said.

Officials have advertised three times since September 1984 for a suitable site for a new 1,400-square-foot building for the 32734 zip code area south of Old Winter Garden Road.

''We're going to keep trying. We're just having a hard time finding the right piece of land at the right price,'' Bennett said. ''But we're in no way giving up on the community out there. We're going to continue to look.''